Beneath a Darkened Sky: Ino X Kiba
by AikoMizuyamoto
Summary: Just something I started writing and wanted to share, one of my favorite pairings, Ino and Kiba.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Weeds**

Ino Yamanaka sighed, putting the last of the garden's musty weeds into a big, black trash bag. Her father had assigned her a tedious chore, as he often did on Sundays, and she begrudgingly completed his latest task, weeding the garden.

Ino sighed, examining the last of the weeds that were pouring out of the extremely full bag. She supposed that her own ninja career had become much like the weeds she was tossing into the bag; hopeless, and doomed to get burned in the incinerator sooner or later.

Her father, Inoichi, had been pushing her to return to her career as a ninja, to train and hone her skills. But Ino refused. There was just no point, with Sasuke gone, her inspiration was lost. She was like an artist with no paints, or Chouji with no food.

Ino sighed, finally able to tie the teeming bag closed. She took a seat on her front steps, looking out into the busy town. It was depressing, but she felt there was not one person she could call a true friend. She had friends, of course, she was extremely popular, but something was missing. Trust, the key element in any friendship. She could not trust a single Konoha ninja, not after what had happened with Sasuke. She leaned back, closing her eyes, and felt the cool breeze upon her face. As she relaxed, she let her thoughts drift. Back to a time where her family believed in her, where she could trust people, trust herself, and Sasuke was back in Konohakagure.

Kiba Inuzuka held tightly to Akamaru's leash, as his own body was dragged throughout the village. Akamaru was getting WAY too big for this. Nowadays, Kiba felt as if he was the one out for his daily walk. As he struggled to keep Akamaru tame, his feet skidded on the ground.

"Watch it, Akamaru!" he yelled, trying his hardest to remain on the ground. '_I hope nobody's watching.' _thought Kiba to himself as he looked around.

His eye caught something, and he immediately turned a scarlet color. "Damn, of course she would be out today", he muttered to himself as he continued to vie with his canine for control of the leash. Thankfully, she didn't appear to be watching him, she had her head back and her eyes closed. Just then, Akamaru lurched forward, upon seeing a shop-keeps kitten, sending Kiba flying face first to the hard ground.

Akamaru continued to chase the kitten, his tail wagging swiftly behind him, and barking all the while. Ino looked up at the commotion, noticing Kiba face down in the middle of the village. "Oh,man..are you okay?", she said, rushing to help him up. She offered him a hand, and he took it, although he was mortified by the current situation. "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks", he grumbled angrily under his breath. He used her hand for support, and finally was able to stand up on his own two feet.

Akamaru had gotten the cat, and was rolling around, playing with it. The cat didn't seem too pleased with this, and neither did the shop-keep. Kiba winced as the man walked over, stomping his feet angrily with each step. "Your dog wrecked my shop!" he bellowed, pointing in the direction of his dismantled shop. The wall had caved in from Akamaru's romp, and the windows were smashed due to the store's objects crashing into them.

"That's about 1500 Ryo's worth of repairs, young man! How do you intend to pay for this damage?" Ino looked on, awkwardly. She sighed, realizing what she was about to do next. "Are you hiring , sir? My friend and I would be happy to work for you in exchange for the repairs. You can take the money from what would be our pay…"

The man's face relaxed with this proposition, but then quickly tensed up with his next sentence, "Well, missy, it's not like you were involved, why should I allow you to help him?" She swallowed and thought of an excuse, "I distracted him, and he let go of the leash."

Kiba's face wrinkled in confusion. _'I..is Ino helping me?" _Ino never helped anyone, except for herself. At least that was what Shikamaru and the others had led him to believe. The man thought for a moment, and spoke. "Alright, you two start tomorrow", he said, as he walked back to his now disassembled shop.

Kiba turned to Ino. "Thanks, you didn't have to do that."

Ino shrugged, thinking to herself. '_Why _did_ I do that?' _

"Don't mention it.", she said, examining her nails as she spoke. "What kind of store is that anyway?" she asked.

Kiba shrugged.

"Looks like we'll find out tomorrow…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Morning Glory**

Kiba patted the last few dark tresses of his healthy mane of hair into place, examining himself intensely in the full length mirror on his bedroom door.

He sighed, realizing this was as good as it was going to get today, and began walking down the stairs and out the front door of his house. It was his first day of work, if you could even call it that, because it wasn't as if he was getting paid anyway. His breath quickened with every pace, and his heart beat fast in his chest. He knew that every step he took brought him closer to seeing Ino, a thought that terrified and excited him at the same time.

He had finally reached the shop, which seemed to have recovered slightly from the incident yesterday. The broken windows were now boarded up, and the broken wall had been haphazardly repaired, most likely by the owner. Ino was walking, and upon seeing Kiba, her pace had quickened.

"_Is she... excited to see me?", _ he thought to himself, hopefully.

Ino reached the spot where Kiba was standing, slightly flushed and a tad out of breath from her small sprint to the store.

"I'm not late, am I?", panted the young kunoichi.

"_Un-freaking-believable," _he remarked to himself, "_even sweaty and flushed, she still looks perfect. Not a hair out of place on that pretty little head. "_

He regained composure long enough to spit out an audible response to her question.

"Nope, I was just getting here too. We're both fashionably early, I guess."

She chuckled,hanging her jacket on the coat hook by the door. She liked Kiba, he seemed like a great guy to work with. She caught his eye, and slightly blushed. She hoped he hadn't noticed the fact that her flushed skin had lingered for far longer than it should have. Her thoughts began to wander, and she quickly stopped herself. She couldn't feel for him, it was simply impossible. She had other things to worry about.

_"Like what?" _a thought inside her mind spoke bitterly, _"Your training?"_

Of course, that wasn't the case.

Ino knew exactly what was stopping her. Sasuke.

_ " Sasuke Uchiha…", _thought Kiba to himself angrily. _" There's no way I could ever stack up to him. I've already lost out to him so many times. Back at the academy, Sasuke was the golden boy. Everyone loved him. He got special treatment because of his family situation. And it's true, it was a tragedy, and it still makes me shudder to think about it, but the guy is clearly off his rocker. He's a runaway now; he has no business being in the hearts of so many of our ninja...or in their minds, either. He has no idea how much he's affected us all. How much he's screwed people like Naruto, Sakura, and even Ino up. And there's no way Ino could ever like me..."_

The boss snapped Kiba from his speculations with a snarl.

"Employees! Listen up! Your first task is to go sort out the storage room. Get to work, now."

The two sighed, anticipating the hell that would be their first day of work.


End file.
